RICHARD'S PIPIT. 237 



yards is passed, that moment he flies, accompanied by any others within 

 hearing of his note of alarm. However, by dint of extra heavy charges, 

 and by creeping along under the edge-bunds of the paddy-fields, I managed 

 to secure a few of this very fine Pipit. The places frequented were low 

 grounds occurring below jheels or talaos ; the water constantly percolating 

 through the reservoir-bank kept the low grounds adjacent rather damp, 

 and in many places quite wet. Over a greater part o£ this low ground, 

 the rice-crop having been gathered, there now grew a small vetch with 

 blue flower, entirely covering what had been the paddy-field a couple of 

 months before ; and in these vetch-fields, the larger Pipit of which I am 

 speaking delighted. Before retiring among the vetches to feed, they sat 

 for some time, as a rule, upon the little bunds which divided the fields ; 

 and when they did this, I found the best plan was to wait till the look-out 

 was over, and the birds had retired among the crops to feed. It was then 

 possible to creep up within shot.^^ 



The nest of Richard's Pipit has never been described, but probably 

 differs very little from that of other Pipits. The eggs vary in number from 

 foiir to six. Some are profusely spotted all over with minute specks and 

 blotches of greenish brown upon a pale greenish-white ground-colour, 

 whilst in others the spots are reddish brown upon a pinkish- white ground- 

 colour. They vary in length from "9 to "82 inch, and in breadth from ■/ to 

 •65 inch. Except in size, the eggs of the present species scarcely differ 

 from those of the Rock-Pipit and the "Water-Pipit. 



Like all the other Pipits, this species is principally insectivorous. 

 Colonel Legge says that in Ceylon it feeds on worms and grasshoppers, and 

 often seizes a passing butterfly on the wing. 



Richard's Pipib is one of those Siberian birds that are in the habit of 

 migrating eastwards in autumn to China and India, but which occur so 

 regularly in Europe that, in many localities, its appearance may be looked 

 for with confidence every year. The positive statements of Dresser and 

 others that this bird breeds in Europe are entirely unsupported by evidence ; 

 and it is much to be regretted that Gates, in his excellent ' Handbook to the 

 Birds of British Burmah,^ should have repeated the myth. The birds 

 described and figured by Dresser, from Antwerp, in his ' Birds of Europe,' 

 are adult and young immediately after the autumn moult. The opinion 

 that these birds breed in Europe has arisen in consequence of their late 

 stay in spring. Ornithologists seem to have been quite unaware that the 

 breeding- grounds of Richard's Pipit, the Red-throated Pipit, the Blue- 

 throated Warbler, the Little Stint, and many other birds are buried in 

 snow until late in May or early in June. 



The adult male Richard's Pipit in breeding-plumage has the general 

 colour of the upper parts an almost neutral brown ; the dark centres on 

 the feathers of the head and back are well developed, but are absent from 



